98 
ADIANTACEiE. 
lopment, and also the mode in which they spring from the rhi- 
zoma. The portion of the stem below the ground is of a dark 
browm colour, velvety, and considerably stouter than the portion 
above ground ; it closely resembles the rhizoma in its general 
appearance. When this incrassated portion of the stem is cut 
through, either in a direct or oblique di- 
rection, the section bears a regular figure, 
as represented in the annexed cut, the 
left-hand section being direct, the right hand oblique. This fi- 
gure is by many said to represent an oak tree, and is called King 
Charles in the Oak; by others it is supposed to resemble a 
spread eagle, hence the specific name of Aquilina, given by 
Linneus. We learn from Mr. Francis’s ‘Analysis of British 
Ferns,’ that this appearance “ was a matter of notoriety at a ve- 
ry early period. Thus we find,” says that author, “ in a most 
rare little book, entitled ‘ A Dyalogue or Communycation of two 
persons devysed or set forth, in the Latin Tonge, by the noble 
and famous clarke Desiderius Erasmus, intituled. The Pilgrim- 
age of pure Devotion newly translatyd into Englyshe’ (no date, 
supposed to be 1551), is the following curious passage : “ Per- 
aventure they ymagyne the symylytude of a tode to be there ; 
evyn as we suppose when w^e cutte the fearne stalke there to be 
an egle.’ ” * The frond is killed by the first frosts of autumn, 
however slight they may be ; it instantly turns to a deep brown 
colour, but remains perfectly undecayed, and frequently in an 
erect position, during the whole winter. 
The form of the firond is nearly triangular, the base being 
somewhat but not materially the shortest of the three sides. 
The naked portion of the stem is rather more than half the length 
of the frond, it is green and rather pilose ; the pinnae are pin- 
nate, the pinnules pinnatifid ; the lobes are generally rounded 
and entire, but sometimes again divided ; the first superior pin- 
nule on each pinna is usually very small, and, as it were, rudi- 
mentary only. The fronds are almost invariably fertile, but all 
parts of the same frond are not equally so. In seedling plants, 
or those which occasionally grow in caves, fissures, or on stone 
* Analysis, p. 55. 
